Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Against The Cage (Worth The Fight Series Book #1) by Sidney Halston with Excerpt & Review

AGAINST THE CAGE: Worth the Fight Series

Loveswept
Contemporary Romance

Written by
Sidney Halston

Releasing May
27, 2014

Blurb

In
her Loveswept debut, Sidney Halston turns up the heat as a sexy cage fighter
shows a former bookworm how delicious a few rounds between the sheets can be.

For Chrissy Martin, returning to her
Florida hometown always seems to bring bad luck. The day starts with a breakup
text, followed by a jailhouse phone call from her troublemaker brother. Now a
routine traffic stop has ended with her accidentally punching an officer . . .
in a delicate place. Then Chrissy realizes that the hot cop on the receiving
end of her right hook is none other than the man from her teenage fantasies.

Jack Daniels knows how to take a hit.
After all, when he’s not chasing reckless drivers, he’s kicking ass in a mixed
martial arts ring. So what takes his breath away isn’t the low blow, but the
woman who dealt it: a gorgeous knockout with legs Jack wouldn’t mind being
pinned under—who just so happens to be his best friend’s nerdy little sister,
all grown up. Soon their instant chemistry leads to a sizzling affair, but Jack
and Chrissy are fighting an uphill battle if they want to make love last beyond
the final bell.

“I hope I didn’t take too lo--” Jack strode
into the living room to see a tiny sleeping ball on his couch. She looked so
small on his big fluffy white sofa. It was quite the contrast; her long
straight pitch-black hair and black dress against the white of the couch. Her
alabaster legs were tucked under her, her head rested on the arm of the couch,
and her dress had unceremoniously inched up her thighs. Drogo sat on the floor,
inches from Chrissy’s face, staring. It was odd. He normally went in for the
kill. Okay, maybe not a kill since his teeth were tiny, but he definitely
tended to bite. Instead, he just sat on his hind legs staring at her. Not
exactly a friendly stare-down but not menacing either. People never believed
Jack about the pit bull blood that ran through Drogo’s veins, but it was true.
What kind of man would have a girly little Chihuahua? Not a real man, and Jack
was a real man. His dog had spirit and that spirit didn’t match its size. And
when the dog bit, his jaw locked and didn’t let go. Pit bull for sure. Real men had pit bulls.

He looked over at his dining table to see
that she had set the sandwich and a beer on a place mat she must have found in
one of the drawers. It felt nice to have someone at his home, taking care of
him. Not wanting to wake her, he grabbed a small blanket he kept by the
television and went to drape it over her, but Drogo ran towards the blanket,
bit down, and pulled on the corner. Jack pulled harder but the feisty dog wasn’t
letting go. He yanked the blanket up but the dog held on, dangling a foot off
the floor. Damn dog! A year later and
the dog still hated people—Jack included.

After a somewhat long battle of tug of war,
Drogo finally admitted defeat and released his death grip on the blanket,
scampering back to his corner—most likely to plot revenge. The pup kept his
eyes on Jack, showing off all of his little razor sharp teeth, clearly meant to
intimidate. If the dog could speak he’d say: You win this battle, Daniels. But
it’s on, now! Jack softly draped the cover over Chrissy. He then went to the
table and tried not to think about the woman that was sleeping on his couch.
When he was finished, he put the plate in the dishwasher, grabbed the box of
keys and headed out towards her house. And of course, the last key he tried,
after trying all three zillion keys, was the one that unlocked her door. “Yes!”
he said out loud, to no one.

Jack crossed the lawn back to his house
where he was greeted by a squeaky growl from Drogo. Jack rolled his eyes. He
didn’t want to disturb Chrissy but he felt bad leaving her to sleep on the
couch all night. He crouched down with the intention of waking her but just as
he was about to gently tap her shoulder, he found himself pausing to admire her
for a few moments. Asleep, there were no signs of the feisty attitude he’d
witnessed earlier. She looked like an angel, even with her black-rimmed glasses
partially crooked from being pushed against her hands. He reached under her
with both arms and lifted, effortlessly. Drogo eyed him cautiously but didn’t
bother moving. As if by instinct, she snuggled closer to him and he could smell
her soapy scent. He started walking towards the door but apparently the
movement startled her and she jerked, causing her to fall right out of his
arms.

Hastily, Jack reached down and pulled her
up to her feet, their bodies brushing against each other on the way up, her
hand lingering on his forearm. “Shit. You okay?” he asked.

“Y-yeah.” She pulled her hand away as if
she’d been electrocuted, straightened her skirt and leaned back against the
wall to put some distance between them. She looked at him as if she was prey
and Jack was the big bad lion. There was a sudden electrical spark between them
and it took him about a year to move his attention from her legs, over her
body, all the way up to her big blue eyes.

“Wh-hat were you doing?” Her eyes were wide
and her lips parted. Her chest moved in and out, causing his eyes to want to
dart down to the swells of her breasts, but he kept it controlled and arduously
maintained eye contact.

“Sorry, Chrissy. You looked so peaceful I
didn’t want to wake you. I was going to carry you home. I found the key and was
able to unlock the door while you were sleeping. God, you smell good.” He hovered
inches from her face, both his palms flat against the wall on either side of
her head. She was caged in. His head moved down to her neck and she felt him
breathing in her scent.

“Oh. I guess I was tired. I must have dozed
off. Did you eat?” She was talking a mile a minute.

“Yeah. Thanks, it was delicious.” His
thumbs, having a mind of their own, reached towards her face and caressed her
cheeks. Drogo growled and Jack hushed him. He noticed her eyes glossing over as
her eyes never left his, and her tongue darted out to moisten her lips. The
sight of her pink tongue sent him over the edge.

“And, wh-what are y-you doing now?”

“I’m getting ready to kiss you.” His voice
was husky and low.

“Oh.” She licked her bottom lip and
whispered. “Is that a good idea Ja--”

He placed his index finger on her mouth to
quiet her. “I think it’s the best idea I’ve ever had.”

My Review: 5 stars

This is the first book that I've had the pleasure of reading by Sidney, but it damn sure won't be the last. This book has it all; action, a little bit of drama, loss, heart break, healing, love, hot guys fighting - what's not to like? I loved the sense of humor that Sidney also brought to her characters, the depth to which they showed they cared about the other was fantastic also. I was cracking up so hard the first chapter, and from there I really couldn't put the book down.

Chrissy, Jack and Slade grew up together. Jack and Slade were best friends and Chrissy, Slade's little sister, always tried to tag along. That didn't really work out so well for her.

Now she's back in town to try and clean up after her brother again, because it seems he doesn't really care about much in general. Things between Jack and Chrissy heat up, and despite Chrissy's telling herself she's not going to go there, she really can't help herself.

Jack is everything she's wanted since she was young, but she's afraid. Chrissy is also keeping some things to herself, that she thought her brother held against her. When she finally tells Jack, he tells her she's wrong. Jack moves Chrissy into his house while she's staying and things just get more and more intense between them. Lots of things happen, both for Chrissy and Jack, and Chrissy thinks that by leaving, she'll just get over it. When she realizes she won't, she tries to go back, but fate has other ideas.

Jack and Slade both are going crazy wondering where Chrissy went. Jack is called to work, and when he finds out why, his worry for Chrissy just increases. Because she's just gone and no one has heard from her. When Jack tells Slade what he had said and did all those years ago, Slade can't believe that he would have done what he did, but he did. Then when Jack finds Chrissy's car, but not Chrissy, is when both Slade and Jack realize they both could lose her, and not for just a few years.

I absolutely loved the way the book ended, Jack and Chrissy were very good together. Each strong enough for the other, and that's important. I'm looking very much forward to the next book coming out whenever that may be. Sidney did a fantastic job with the story line and the characters. I really enjoyed reading every bit of this.

Author Info

Sidney Halston lives her life by one
simple rule: “The secret of getting ahead is getting started” (Mark Twain). Or
even simpler: “Just do it” (Nike). And that’s exactly what she did. At the age
of thirty, having never written anything other than a legal brief, she picked
up a pen for the first time to pursue her dream of becoming an author. That
first stroke sealed the deal, and she fell in love with writing. Halston lives
in South Florida with her husband and children.